UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 


G     000  005  586     3 


NERVOUS    DISEASES 


MAGNETIC  THERAPEUTICS, 


JAMES   EDWIN  BEIGGS,   M.D 

NEW    YOKK    CITY,    N.    Y. 


NEW     YORK: 

GEO.    W.    WHEAT,    PRINTER,    109    NASSAU    STREET. 

1881. 


Copyrighted,  1881, 
By  James  E.  Briggs.  M.  D. 


IDfA 
4-00 


NERVOUS    DISEASES. 


To  define  Nervous  Diseases  critically,  is  as  perplex- 
ing as  to  explain  insanity  itself.  It  is  hard  to  find  the 
proper  starting-point  and  to  fix  the  limit,  on  one  side 
of  which  is  the  nervous  complaint,  and  on  the  other 
almost  everything  else.  There  is  a  period  in  almost 
everyone's  history,  when  a  rigid  judgment  would  set 
him  down  as  not  altogether  in  his  right  mind.  Se?7ie/ 
insanavimus  omnes.  In  pathological  conditions,  the 
tone  of  the  nervous  system  is  impaired  ;  and  the  ques- 
tion is  at  once  brought  home  to  the  philosophical  prac- 
titioner, who  cannot  content  himself  with  a  superficial 
diagnosis,  whether  the  complaint,  in  whatever  form,  is 
not  substantially  and  originally  nervous. 

The  disorders  of  the   nervous  system  comprise  not 


4  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

only  the  most  formidable  which  the  physician  encoun- 
ters, but  their  nature  and  origin  are  the  most  perplexing 
to  ascertain.  Their  pathology  and  their  etiolog}',  to 
speak  more  technically,  are  still  among  the  moot  points 
which  writers  and  practitioners  discuss,  and  have  not 
yet  properly  determined. 

We  have,  so  far,  a  variety  of  theories,  or  perhaps  I 
should  say  conjectures ;  but  they  often  tend  to  puzzle, 
rather  than  to  facilitate  enquiry,  from  their  absolute 
contradiction  of  each  other. 

We  are,  perhaps,  approximating  truth  ;  but  dogma 
still  reigns  ascendant.  The  argument  of  brow-beating 
and  peremptory  assertion  is  the  main  dependence  of 
those  who  aspire  to  magisterial  authority  in  Psychologi- 
cal Medicme. 

I  will  give  a  cursory  glance  at  the  complaints  usually 
characterized  as  nervous,  before  making  further  enquiry 
into  their  causes.  It  cannot  be  expected  or  even  de- 
sired that  I  should  write  a  book  on  the  subject,  but 
it  is  proper  that  prominent  and  particular  symptoms 
should  be  adduced  for  the  convenience  and  benefit 
of  non-professional  readers. 

The  principal  nervous  disorders  are  insanity,  soften- 
ing of  the  brain,  hardening  of  the   brain,  meningitis, 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  5 

ataxia,  tetanus,  hydrophobia,  epilepsy,  catalepsy,  hys- 
teria, chorea,  paralysis,  neuralgia.  I  must  be  excused 
from  extending  the  list  further,  or  making  an  exhaustive 
review  of  those  which  I  have  mentioned.  A  few  of  them 
will  suffice  ;  and  when  I  am  not  thorough,  I  must  refer 
those  to  the  text-books  and  periodicals,  who  wish  to 
know  more. 

The  modern  school  of  psychologists  regard  insanity  as 
morbid  action  of  the  brain.  Prof  W.  A.  Hammond, 
late .  Surgeon-General,  propounds  the  following  hy- 
pothesis, as  covering  the  whole  ground  psychologically 
as  well  as  pathologically  :  "By  mind  we  understand  a 
force  developed  by  nervous  action,  and  especially  by  the 
action  of  the  brain.  The  modifications  which  this 
force,  in  its  cerebral  relations  undergoes  outside  of  the 
limits  of  health,  as  regards  excess,  deficiency  or  variation 
of  quality,  are  embraced  under  the  term  insanity.  *  * 
The  mind  is  a  compound  force  evolved  by  the  brain  ; 
and  its  elements  are  perception,  intellect,  emotion  and 
will." 

It  is  not  to  be  imagined  for  a  moment  that  this  fa- 
mous reasoner  would  consider,  even  with  common 
courtesy,  any  questioning  of  his  postulates.  We  dogs 
may  bark,  but  we  may  hope  nothing  from  the  oracle. 


6  NERVOL'S    DISEASES. 

Those  who  profess  to  hold  similar  views  will  hardly  be 
more  tolerant  of  those  who  differ  from  them.  This  is 
the  common  attitude  even  of  very  many  professed  Lih- 
erals  at  the  present  time. 

Nevertheless,  the  psychology  of  Professor  H.  is  easily 
carried  to  the  redudio  ad  absurdum.  If  the  mind  is 
merely  the  product  of  nervous,  and  especially  of  brain 
action,  it  can  be  only  matter  temporarily  advanced  to 
the  power  of  self-consciousness.  All  its  acts  and  man- 
ifestations are  then  substantially  automatic,  physical, 
and,  I  may  justly  add,  mechanical.  Spirituality  itself 
could  be  but  refined  brain-action;  and  morality,  an  im- 
proved physiology — nothing  more.  Love  and  reason, 
virtue,  truth  and  justice,  intuition  of  the  sense  of  honor, 
all  that  goes  to  make  up  a  high-toned  man — are  thus 
set  forth  as  so  many  evolutions  from  the  brain  and  ner- 
vous system.  Hatred  and  insanity,  vice,  error  and  in- 
justice have  a  like  source,  and  for  all  that  we  need  see, 
are  of  equal  merit  and  normality.  Mental  science,  as 
propounded  by  Dr.  Hammond  and  those  who  reason 
like   him,  is  but  psychology  without  soul. 

I  have  no  disposition  to  overlook  the  magnificent  re- 
sults from  the  labors  of  scientists  in  physiology  and 
pathology.     They  have  done  rare  service  in  the  way  of 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  7 

unearthing  knowledge  of  the  physical  machinery  by 
means  of  which  we  live  and  act,  of  its  disorders,  and 
methods  by  which  they  may  be  greatly  alleviated.  We 
depend  upon  these  men  to  unfold  to  us  what  we  can 
otherwise  scarcely  hope  to  know. 

When,  however,  we  endeavor  to  explore  the  phenom- 
ena and  causes  of  mental  aberration  and  commoner 
nervous  disorder,  we  must  be  permitted  to  avail  our- 
selves of  the  aid  of  a  higher  and  more  comprehensive 
philosophy.  We  will  pay  all  due  respect  to  atoms  and 
molecules,  conscious  of  their  immense  importance  in 
this  great  universe.  We  will  venerate,  also,  the  law  which 
determines  their  motion.  We  simply  believe  that  they  do 
not  evolve  that  law  ;  that  it  is  the  outcome  of  a  princi- 
ple greater  than  they. 

I  accept,  most  cordially,  the  generalization  of  that 
great  savant,  as  well  as  poet,  Goethe  : 

"  All  members  develop  themselves  according  to  eternal  laws, 
And  the  rarest  form  mysteriously  preserves  the  primitive  type. 
P'orm,  thcFefore,  determines  the  animal's  way  of  life, 
And  in  turn,  the  way  of  life  powerfully  reacts  upon  all  form. 
Thus,  t/ie  07'dcrly  groivtii  of  form  is  seen  io  hold, 
\\\v\q. yielding  to  cJiange  from  externally-acting  causes." 

Sir  William  Hamilton  explains  the  mind  as  follows  : 
''What  we  are  conscious  of  is  constructed  out  of  what 


8  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

we  are  not  conscious  of. "  Hseckel  is  a  little  plainer  : 
"The  forms  of  organism  and  of  their  organs  result  en- 
tirely from  their  life. '' 

Dr.  Blandford,  Lecturer  on  Psychological  Medicine 
at  St.  George's  Hospital,  London,  candidly  acknowl- 
edges insanity  to  be  "a  mystery  not  yet  unraveled." 
He  goes  on  with  emphasis  to  remark  :  "Its  inscrutable 
appearance  without  assignable  cause  in  a  man  hitherto 
sane,  and  its  no  less  inscrutable  departure,  are  things 
which  we  must  confess  are  not  yet  explicable  by  human 
knowledge.'' 

It  is  very  superficial  science  that  has  only  relations 
with  human  phenomena.  Religious  men  are  justified 
somewhat  in  their  hostility  to  its  pretensions  of  superi- 
ority, when  its  exponents  confine  themselves  so  sensibly 
to  effects,  and  resolutely  set  aside  causes.  He  is  only 
a  sciolist,  who  can  recognize  the  existence  of  motion, 
animation,  sensibility  and  understanding,  and  refuses 
to  acknowledge  or  even  consider  the  vital  elements  that 
superpose  all  these,  and  themselves  constitute  the  real 
being. 

We  therefore  cannot  consider  spirit  as  a  form  of  mat- 
ter, nor  mind  as  a  mere  evolution  from  the  brain  and 
nervous  system.      The  spiritual   nature   and  origin  of 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  9 

human  life  must  be  the  starting-point.  Man  is  con- 
scious, in  a  sense  that  no  animal  is,  that  there  is  a  line 
of  demarkation  between  himself  and  his  circumstances  ; 
that  his  soul  permeates  and  presides  over  all  the  nerves, 
organs  and"  sinews  of  his  body.  It  causes  the  muscles 
to  expand  and  contract,  the  eyes  to  open  and  shut,  the 
the  blood  to  circulate  ;  it  feels  and  thinks  as  of  itself 
Suppose,  eventually,  that  something  goes  wrong  in  its 
relations.  The  nerves  first  perceive  the  fact,  and  the 
will,  presiding  at  the  seat  of  sensibility,  makes  the  en- 
deavor to  correct  the  disturbance.  If  this  is  done 
promptly,  all  goes  on  well  ;  if  not,  there  is  disease — a 
state  of  non-ease.  In  this  operation,  we  notice  that  the 
nervous  system  is  first  impressed  by  the  fact  and  con- 
dition ;  the  membranes,  fibres  and  other  parts  follow  in 
its  lead. 

Insanity  is  the  most  conspicuous  form  of  this  abnor- 
mal condition.  It  is  therefore  an  appropriate  type  of 
the  various  mental  disturbances.  They  may  all  be 
recognized  more  or  less  distinctly  from  their  analogous 
manifestations.  It  is  evidendy  a  mental  disorder,  but 
is  always  associated  with  functional  and  other  aberra- 
tions. 

Hysteria,  when  we  take  its  peculiar  phenomena  into 


lO  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

consideration,  will  be  perceived  to  have  a  remarkable 
likeness  to  insanity.  It  is  a  morbid  condition  resulting 
from  the  action  of  a  disordered  mind  upon  a  suscepti- 
ble or  debilitated  nervous  system.  The  person  is 
easily  excited;  weeping  or  laughing  without  apparent 
cause  ;  sometimes  wrought  up  to  fury  by -injudicious 
treatment,  or  depressed  to  almost  utter  hopelessness, 
easily  jealous,  or  influenced  in  any  way.  Emotional 
disturbances,  inability  to  a  steady  exercise  of  the  will, 
and  illusions  of  fancy,  are  more  or  less  characteristic  of 
this  disorder.  The  moral  sense  is  impaired ;  the  pa- 
tient is  eager  for  sympathy,  and  will  resort  to  number- 
less artifices  to  obtain  it.  Spasm,  tetanus,  paralysis, 
and  even  coma  may  occur,  and  are  often  counterfeited  ; 
chorea  and  epilepsy  are  not  uncommon.  Bedridden 
persons  are  commonly  hysterical. 

The  special  senses  are  deranged ;  specters  are  seen, 
voices  heard,  peculiar  odors  and  tastes  detected  for 
which  there  is  no  obvious  cause.  The  skin  is  preter- 
naturally  sensitive,  and  pains  are  experienced  simulat- 
ing those  of  other  disorders.  All  the  internal  organs 
are  morbidly  affected.  Sexual  passion  is  acute  almost 
to  incapacity  for  self-control,  or  it  may  be  almost  totally 
suppressed.     It  has   been   usual,  and  very  properly,  to 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  II 

attribute  the  disorder  to  disappointment  in  love,  or  to 
ill  sexual  habits.  As  the  name  itself  purports,  it  has 
been  considered  as  essentially  a  complaint  peculiar  to 
women,  and  corresponding  to  hypochondriasis  in  men. 
If  this  was  correct,  the  remedy  would  suggest  itself  at 
once,  and  the  execration  of  the  poet  Tennyson  fully 
warranted  : 

"  Cursed  be  the  social  lies  that  warp  us  from  the  living  truth  ; 
Cursed  be  the  social  wants  that  sin  against  the  strength  of  youth; 
Cursed  be  the  sickly  forms  that  err  from  honest  Nature's  rule." 

Hysteria,  however,  is  not  altogether  a  complaint  pe- 
culiar to  women.  Pope,  Swift  and  Cowper  seem  to 
have  been  subject  to  it.  Later  writers  ascribe  to  this 
disorder  the  peculiar  seizures  and  the  visions  of 
Mohammed.  Children  of  both  sexes  are  made 
hysterical  by  being  worried  beyond  their  strength 
to  endure.  In  this  condition  they  are  often  punished 
for  ill  conduct.  ]Many  persons  exhibit  hysterical  symp- 
toms when  exhausted  or  harassed  to  an  inordinate  de- 
gree. I  admit  that  disappointment  in  love  produces  a 
shock  to  the  entire  structure,  deranging  the  nervous 
system  and  the  various  functions.  So  will  other  griefs. 
The  disorder  is  occasioned  by  the  action  of  the  mind 
upon  the   body  through  the  sympathetic  s}stem.      The 


12  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

pffwer  of  the  ivill  is  fast  weakened.  This  may  be  from 
disease,  mental  fatigue,  or  other  depressing  causes. 
Many  persons  exhibit  hysterical  symptoms  when  ex- 
hausted or  overcome  by  disheartening  news.  Those  who 
are  disappointed  in  ambition,  and  those  especially  liv- 
ing without  any,  are  very  liable  to  attack.  It  originates 
from  blight,  or  mental  shock,  or  disorder  paralyzing  the 
functions,  more  or  less,  of  the  sympathetic  nervous  sys- 
tem. Women  are  perhaps  more  subject  to  it,  from 
being  restricted  in  a  great  degree  to  a  single  pursuit, 
that  of  getting  a  husband,  however  poor  a  stick  he  may 
be.  They  are  largely  debarred  from  higher  ambitions 
and  nobler  employments,  and  consequently  have  little 
object  in  life. 

The  patients  suffering  from  this  complaint  are  not 
difficult  of  cure.  Give  them  hope,  something  to  be 
ambitious  about,  any  motive  strong  enough  to  call  out 
their  energy  ;  awaken  their  self-respect,  and  they  will 
rise  up  whole.  The  devils  that  infest  them  will  depart, 
leaving  them  "clothed  and  in  their  right  mind." 

Epilepsy  is  a  disorder  far  more  insidious  and  unman- 
ageable. The  name  implies  a  seizure,  as  though  a  ma- 
lignant potency  had  taken  possession  of  the  patient. 
Hippokrates  and  other  ancient  writers  designated  it  the 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  I  3 

Sacred  Disease,  and  the  Jews,  dcemonisaiion  ;  both  ex- 
pressions meaning  a  disorder  produced  by  spiritual  be- 
ings. Sometimes,  indeed,  the  patient  will  exhibit  pre- 
ternatural perceptive  faculties.  Samuel  Warren  de- 
scribed an  example  in  Blackwood's  Magazine,  some 
forty-five  years  ago,  where  the  senses  had  become  so 
preternaturally  acute,  that  the  patient  perceived  and 
accurately  described  the  preparation  of  a  corpse  for 
burial  as  it  was  going  on  in  an  adjoining  room. 

In  this  instance  the  patient  had  been  addicted  to  ex- 
cess in  eating  and  drinking.  Returning  to  his  room 
from  an  entertainment,  he  beheld  a  specter,  and  fell  to 
the  floor  in  a  fit  which  lasted  for  hours,  and  was  suc- 
ceeded by  violent  suicidal  mania.  There  is  seldom 
any  lesion  observable  in  this  complaint,  and  what  is 
found  is  a  result  of  the  disease.  It  is  clearly  a  func- 
tional disorder,  as  such  things  are  understood.  I  know 
not  why  it  should  not  be  regarded  as  psychical.  It 
generally  begins  by  depressing  emotions,  and  is  aggra- 
vated by  any  cause  affecting  the  spirits.  Sudden 
alarms,  great  or  slight,  appear  to  occasion  the  first  ap- 
pearance. It  has  been  attributed  to  sexual  excess,  and 
as  children  are  more  commonly  seized,  masturbation  is 
made  the  scapegoat.     It  may  be  questioned,  however, 


14  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

whether  the  parents  or  ancestors  did  not  create  the  sus- 
ceptibility by  their  improprieties. 

ETIOLOGY. 

A  prolonged  strain  of  the  nervous  system,  whether 
mental  or  physical,  with  too  little  rest  and  unsuitable 
nourishment  will  impair  the  vital  force  and  thin  the 
blood.  The  sensibility  will  be  morbidly  axalted  and 
the  nerve-force  consequently  lost.  The  mind  will  ex- 
hibit the  impairment  by  weakness  and  vacillation  of  the 
will,  lack  of  decision,  emotions  generally  of  an  un- 
healthy and  depressing  character  ;  there  will  be  feeble 
and  irregular  action  of  the  muscles,  and  easily-disturbed 
circulation  of  the  blood. 

This  condition  is  neurasthenia.  It  may  also  be 
hereditar}^  or  congenital.  Some  are  bom,  live  and  die 
neurasthenic;  having  from  the  beginning  a  weak,  tricky 
nervous  system.  But  more  commonly  it  occurs  from 
prolonged  over-exertion,  a  load  of  care  or  distress,  loss 
of  sleep  or  excessive  waste  of  the  tissues  of  the  body. 
It  may  be  a  disease  by  itself,  or  an  element  in  diseased 
conditions.  It  is  as  an  able  writer,  Prof  J.  S.  Jewell, 
remarks,  "Put  the  undertone  in  the  picture,  in  a  vast 
number  of  cases  of  '  heart-disease,"  '  brain-disease,"  even 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  I  5 

'softening'  of  the  brain,  of  hysteria,  epilepsy,  melan- 
choHa,  neuralgias,  paresis,  mental  weakness,  feeble  cir- 
culation, insomnia,  etc.  It  prevails  in  all  periods  of 
life,  and  in  both  sexes. "  It  is  becoming  more  common 
among  people  sedentary  in  habit,  intellectual  in  activ- 
ity, and  so  engaged  as  to  augment  the  sensibilities  at 
the  expense  of  the  nervous  force. 

Without  further  detail,  we  will  endeavor  to  account 
for  these  abnormal  manifestations.  I  am  convinced 
that  they  do  not  pertain  primarily  to  the  cerebro-spinal 
system.  That  part  of  the  body  is  a  focus  of  vitality 
only  in  a  qualified  sense.  The  real  "nerve-centres," 
as  it  is  fashionable  to  call  them,  from  which  disorder 
proceeds,  belong  to  the  sympathetic  system.  All  life  is 
transmitted  from  that  to  the  other  parts  of  the  body. 
The  innumerable  ganglia,  frequently  so  small  as  to  be 
almost  undistinguishable,  contain  and  diffuse  the  po- 
tency by  which  the  body  lives  and  is  preserved  in  the 
condition  of  health.  They  are  vital  focuses  ;  they  reg- 
ister all  the  changes  and  conditions.  They  have  con- 
stant and  instantaneous  connection  and  communication 
with  each  other,  and  again  with  the  cerebro-spinal  sys- 
tem and  the  thinking  consciousness.  They  never 
sleep,  never  dream  ;  hut/cW  and  inform  the  sensorium 


I  6  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

of  everything.  They  are  the  recording  angels  that  keep 
record  of  "all  deeds  done  in  the  body."  They  contain 
the  7iiiclei  of  those  semi-intellectual  and  ever-present  in- 
tuitions called  instincts ;  they  watch  and  note  every 
event  and  every  need  of  the  physical  economy.  The 
nerves  0/ sensation  which  seem  to  do  this  are  little  else 
than  telegraphic  wires  that  carry  messages,  but  do  not 
originate  them.  The  ganglia  of  the  sympathetic  sys- 
tem are  the  sources  of  energy,  and  both  nourish  and 
sustain  the  body. 

Nervous  disorders,  it  is  therefore  apparent,  must  be 
referred,  primarily,  to  this  ganglionic  system.  The 
phenomena,  it  may  be,  are  more  palpably  indicated  by 
the  brain  and  spinal  cord ;  but,  I  apprehend  that  the 
solar  plexus  and  its  ganglia  will  furnish  the  master-key 
to  open  the  chamber  of  mysteries.  The  semilunar, 
the  cardiac  and  cervical  ganglia,  are  lords  over  the 
house  of  life.  The  whole  psychical  nature  is  in  close 
contiguity  to  this  department  of  the  nervous  organism. 
The  heart  is  controlled  by  the  emotions  ;  anxiety  will 
retard  its  pulsations,  and  thereby  create  dyspepsia,  bron- 
chitis, pains  in  the  back  and  vertigo.  A  sudden 
shock,  especially  if  painful,  will  arrest  its  action,  injure 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  1 7 

the    valves,  and  even   destroy  life.      The  passions  all 
affect  its  motion  for  good  or  ill. 

The  arterial  system  is  correspondingly  influenced. 
The  capillary  vessels  are  congested  by  sudden  emo- 
tions, as  in  blushing,  or  the  reverse,  as  in  pallor.  The 
erectile  tissues  are  distended  and  rendered  turgid.  Al- 
though the  blood  absorbs  aerial,  contagious  and  other 
poisons,  the  sympathetic  system  receives  the  impression 
first,  and  then  transmits  it  to  the  other  parts  of  the  or- 
ganism. 

The  glands,  if  not  constituted  primarily  of  material 
from  this  system,  are  nevertheless  under  its  direct  influ- 
ence. We  observe  this  in  the  saliva,  which  is  copious, 
suppressed,  or  vitiated,  according  to  the  mental  condi- 
tions. The  poison  of  snakes  is  largelv  made  so  by 
rage  ;  even  the  saliva  of  an  animal  excited  by  passion, 
as  in  the  period  of  oestruation,  is  analogously  affected. 
The  mammary  gland  is  controlled  by  emotions.  IMilk 
will  be  secreted  more  copiously,  or  restricted  in  quan- 
tity, or  rendered  unwholesome  and  even  poisonous. 
Women  under  the  influence  of  strong  feeling,  or  an  in- 
fluence tending  to  increase  the  local  tendency  of  the 
circulation,  although  they  were  never  pregnant,  and  exen 
males,  have  also  had  the  secretion.     The  invasion  of  the 


1 8  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

glands  by  scirrhus  is  probably  due  to  a  considerable  de- 
gree from  moral  or  mental  inquietudes  :  and  terror  has 
been  known  to  resolve  the  tumor  in  an  incredibly  brief 
time. 

The  liver  never  fails  to  keep  time  with  the  mind. 
The  gloomy  and  despondent  are  prone  to  become  bili- 
ous, and  even  to  have  jaundice  outright.  The  kidneys 
are  equally  sensitive.  If  the  sympathetic  nerve  is  dis- 
ordered, diabetes  is  sure  to  ensue  ;  and  it  is  lawful  to 
infer  that  any  analogous  impairment  of  its  functions  will 
have  a  similar  result.  Depressing  emotions  will  cause 
the  evolution  of  oxalic  acid  in  the  urine  :  and  in  great 
mental  distress,  uric  acid  and  its  salts  will  be  '  pro- 
duced. Violent  grief  has  produced  nephritis.  Over- 
tasking of  the  mind  and  cerebral  system,  will,  on  the 
other  hand,  cause  phosphatic  elimination  by  the  kid- 
neys. Patients  suttering  from  hysteria  or  mental  anxi- 
ety, are  characterized  by  a  copious  secretion  of  '•'  nei-v- 
ous  urine. '"  If  the  mental  conditions  are  changed, 
these  phenomena  cease. 

The  stomach  is  affected  by  emotions  :  the  secretion 
of  gastric  juice  is  increased,  arrested,  or  its  digestive 
powers  gready  interfered  with  by  agreeable  or  unpleas- 
ant  news.       The  spleen  has  long  been  noted  as  the 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  ly 

seat  of  hypochondriasis.  The  bowels  are  disturbed, 
made  loose,  and  even  become  dysenteric  or  choleraic 
by  the  influence  of  fear  and  other  passions.  In  mel- 
ancholic insanity  they  are  constipated.  So  notorious 
were  these  peculiarities,  that  in  ancient  time  the  domi- 
nant passion  was  characterized  by  the  action  or  dis- 
turbance of  this  peculiar  viscus.  The  heart,  liver,  veins 
and  even  the  spleen,  lungs  and  bowels  were  indicated 
as  the  seat  of  sensibility,  emotion,  passion  and  the  af- 
fections generally.  Hardly  ever,  before  Galen,  does 
any  special  idea  of  cerebral  action  appear  to  have  been 
entertained,  except  among  certain  of  the  philosophers. 
The  sexual  system  is  notoriously  the  seat  of  excite- 
ment and  depression  from  psychical  and  mental  influ- 
ences. It  is  under  the  special  control  of  the  sympa- 
thetic nerves,  and  influenced  by  the  solar  plexus. 
Much  of  the  peculiar  sensibility  experienced  in  this 
part  of  the  body  is  directly  referable  to  the  mind  and 
imagination  ;  the  manifestations  are  controlled  by  the 
impulse  given  in  this  manner.  But  the  mind  and 
will,  however  intense,  have  little  power  over  the  sexual 
functions,  except  through  the  medium  of  the  sympa- 
thetic nervous  system.  The  emodons  are  superior. 
The  complaints  known  -a.^  female  are  produced  by 


20  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

impairment  of  the  functions  of  these  nerves.  They  are 
more  or  less  emotional.  The  unborn  child  is  con- 
trolled in  disposition,  marked,  deformed,  and  some- 
times mutilated,  or  even  destroyed,  by  influences  of  this 
character.  The  caprices  and  whims  of  pregnant  wo- 
men—indeed of  all  women — and  men  likewise,  for  all 
that,  have  a  direct  relation  to  causes  of  the  same  gen- 
eral character. 

In  short,  all  functions  not  directly  under  the  control 
of  the  will,  pertain  to  the  sympathetic  system.  Under 
this  head  are  the  processes  of  nutrition,  circulation,  se- 
credon,  and  what  is  denominated  "chemical  change:"' 
The  will  is  powerless  in  those  matters ;  but  emotion 
can  do  its  worst  in  deranging  or  even  destroying  them. 
Pathologists  have  characterized  certain  nervous  disor- 
ders as  originating  in  the  cerebrum,  others  in  the  spinal 
system,  others  in  both,  etc.  But,  so  far  as  these  parts 
are  concerned,  the  lesions  and  disturbances  must  be 
chiefly  regarded  as  effects.  Emotion,  acting  on  an  ex- 
hausted nervous  system,  will  produce  chorea,  epilepsy, 
apoplexy,  hysteria  and  insanity.  There  may  be  de- 
rangement of  function,  irregular  distribution  of  blood, 
degeneration  of  tissue  ;  l)ut  it  is  fair  to  suppose  that 
contraction   of  the  vessels  caused   these   phenomena  : 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  21 

and,  in  turn,  that  the  contraction  itself  was  effected  by  a 
strong  emotional  impulse  acting  through  the  vaso-mo- 
tor  nerves  which  supply  the  blood-vessels.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  imagine  that  all  the  nerves  and  ganglia  of  the 
encephalon  are  cerebro-spinal.  There  are,  also,  those 
of  the  sympathetic  system  ;  and,  doubtless,  many  dis- 
turbances are  produced  there  from  emotional  influen- 
ces, and  result  in  disorders  which  may  have  been  too 
hastily  classified  as  of  the  cerebro-spinal  axis. 

That  nervous  affections  precede  other  physical  ills, 
appears  conclusive.  The  physician  should  consider 
this  fact  in  his  diagnosis.  Whatever  medical  agency  is 
employed  should  be  selected  with  reference  to  its  influ- 
ence on  the  nervous  system.  Paracelsus  aimed  in  ex- 
actly the  right  direction  when  he  adopted  opium  as  his 
panacea  —  his  laudaimm,  or  praiseworthy  medicine. 
What  is  called  animal  magneiisin  is  a  soother  of  the 
nerves,  and  therefore  invaluable  for  that  reason.  It  is 
no  imaginary  agency,  the  product  of  charlatans,  but 
belongs  to  a  superior  science.  It  has  been  known 
longer  than  history.  Its  power  over  the  faculties  of 
the  body  at  large,  and  especially  over  the  brain  and 
nervous  system,  is  immense  ;  and  it  is  therefore  capa- 
ble of  application  to  prevent  and  remove  suffering,  and 


2  2  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

to  cure  disease,  far  beyond  the  means  hitherto  pursued 
by  the  art  of  medicine. 

Dr.  William  B.  Carpenter,  whom  nobody  will  accuse 
of  credulity,  declares,  that  when  employed  with  skill, 
"it  will  take  rank  as  one  of  the  most  potent  methods 
of  treatment  which  the  physician  has  at  his  command." 
Dr.  J.  J.  Garth  Wilkinson  is  equally  emphatic  :  "We 
have,"  says  he,  "no  certain  knowledge  of  the  limit  of 
mesmerism  as  a  curative  agent,  nor  of  the  conditions 
which  should  exclude  cases  from  this  treatment.  In 
functional  disorders  of  the  nervous  system  it  is  es- 
pecially indicated  ;  and  as  a  number  of  diseases,. even 
seemingly  organic,  spring  from  this  root,  it  appears  that 
it  has  a  large  field  of  application  here.  Hysteria,  epi- 
lepsy, catalepsy,  and  those  other  maladies  in  which  the 
visceral  motions  predominate  over  the  rhythmical  or 
rational  motions  of  the  lungs,  come  very  worthily  under 
its  benefits." 

Dr.  John  Elliottson  has  collected  a  summary  of  cures 
under  his  observation,  from  which  the  following  names 
of  disorders  have  been  taken  :  Neuralgia,  hysteria,  epi- 
lepsy, chorea,  delirium,  insanity,  spinal  disease,  rheu- 
matism, disease  of  the  kidneys,  inflammation  of  the 
bladder,  enlarged  glands,  quinsy,  chlorosis,  uterine  dis- 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  2^ 

ease,  dropsy,  erysipelas,  abscess,  palsy,  lumbar  abscess, 
ophthalmia,  amaurosis,  deafness,  asthma.  Sir  J.  D. 
Brandis,  physician  to  the  King  of  Sweden,  declares  "it 
efficacious  in  cachexias  of  the  vegetative  organism,  such 
as  scrofula,  rachitis,  etc." 

Dr.  Brown-Sequard,  eulogizing  it  in  painless  surgery, 
regrets  that  surgeons  were  in  a  hurry,  and  so  gave  up 
magnetism,  and  employed  the  dangerous  aucesthetics — 
ether,  chloroform,  etc.  A  similar  "  hurry  "  leads  phy- 
sicians to  employ  drugs,  the  effects  of  which  are  often 
detrimental.  Besides,  it  is  fashionable,  as  yet,  to  treat 
the  subject  with  contempt.  Scientists  often  sneer  at 
what  they  do  not,  and  care  not  to,  understand.  When 
employed  with  ordinaiy  means,  the  cure  is  speedier  and 
pleasanter  than  without  it,  and  the  recovery  from  debil- 
ity is  greatly  accelerated. 

I  think  it  has  been  satisfactorily  demonstrated  that 
disease  is  the  effect  of  the  disturbances  of  the  sympa- 
thetic nervous  system,  and  that  this  system  is  the  agency 
by  which  life  is  imparted  over  the  body.  The  cerebro- 
spinal axis  is  only  superposed.  It  is  the  agent  of  the 
mind,  and  if  the  mind  is  to  be  considered  as  evolved  by 
it,  this  is  the  case  only  because  it  has  been  involved  or 
enwombed  in  it.      The  moving  faculty  is  superior  to 


24  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

the  organism,  and  is  born  only  because  begotten.  It 
employs  the  bram  and  nervous  system  for  its  own  pur- 
poses, and  in  its  mature  condition  can  and  does  exist 
without  them,  as  a  ripened  fruit  exists  in  all  its  perfec- 
tion independent  of  the  stalk  on  which  it  grew.  ]\Ien- 
tal  or  emotional  disturbance,  malarial  or  contagious 
poisons,  etc.,  disorder  the  sympathetic  system  and  pro- 
duce disease,  nervous  and  every  other  kind.  Remedial 
agents  which  soothe  the  irritability,  modify  the  nervous 
and  sanguineous  circulation,  and  through  them  the 
other  functions,  should  be  depended  upon  in  all  treat- 
ment. Among  them  sunshine,  pure  air,  water,  exer- 
cise, magnetism  and  moral  discipline  are  foremost.  I 
do  not  reject  others,  for  we  are  not  yet  skillful  as  we 
ought  to  be,  nor  are  patients  intelligent  enough  to  per- 
mit what  does  not  appear  tangible  to  them.  But  as  the 
physician  approximates  the  ideal  of  his  vocation,  all 
will  be  changed.  He  will  no  more  be  sand-blind,  and 
use  a  hand-lamp  to  guide  him,  but  forswear  his  ped- 
antrv  to  become  a  votarv  at  the  altar  of  real  science. 


NERVOUS    DISEASES. 


MAGNETIC  THERAPEUTICS; 

A 

DEFENSE  AND  EXPLANATION 

OF 

ANIMAL    MAGNETISM    AS    APPLIED 

IN 

TREATING  OF  THE  SICK. 


Magnetism  as  a  healing  agent  is  opening  the  way,  for  the 
sick  seek  relief  first,  and  the  touch  that  soothes  and  heals  is 
welcomed  and  the  health  it  brings  helps  to  drive  all  devils 
away. 

Heaven  doth  with  us  as  we  with  torches  do, 
Not  light  them  for  ourselves;  for  if  our  virtues 
Did  not  go  forth  of  us,  't  were  all  alike 

As  if  we  had  them  not. 


We  are  not  called  to  prove  and  demonstrate  that 
such  an  agency  actually  exists,  as  the  one  so  long 
known   as  Animal   Magnetism.       It   has    afforded    its 


26  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

own  evidence  ;  and  he  who  is  candid  and  intelHgent 
has  httle  difificulty  in  arriving  at  conviction.  For  such 
only,  do  we  care  to  write.  We  have  neither  time,  pa- 
tience or  energy,  to  waste  outside. 

Whatever  of  doubt  and  uncertainty  exists  in  regard 
to  this  agent,  hangs  equally  heavy  about  every  remedy 
employed.  "  Many  things  are  uncertain  in  this  world," 
says  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes,  "  and  among  them 
the  effect  of  a  large  proportion  of  the  remedies  pre- 
scribed by  physicians.""  It  is  not  rious  that  the  same 
medicine  will  exhibit  ditferent  phenomena  in  the  hands 
of  different  prescribers,  or  administered  to  different  pa- 
tients. Indeed,  so  manifold  are  these  variations,  as 
also  the  diversity  of  creed  among  physicians,  that  it  is 
more  than  a  question  whether  there  exists  an  art  more 
uncertain  than  the  Medical.  7'he  more  learned  in  the 
calling  are  generally  the  most  skeptical.  It  is  partly 
because  they  have  not  yet  attained  the  true  starting- 
point  for  observation  ;  and  partly  because  the  secret 
of  the  potency  of  remedial  agents  has  not  been  pene- 
trated. 

Van  Helmont,  who  is  credited  with  having  created  a 
new  epoch  in  Medicine,  set  about  his  explorations  in  a 
method    truly    philosophical.       He  turned   out   of  the 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  2/ 

beaten  track,  and  sought  to  ascertain  the  sources  and 
the  outcome  of  the  very  Hfe  itself.  He  perceived  that 
there  existed  in  all  bodies  a  general  cause,  a  special 
activity  which  their  Creator  had  impressed  upon  them, 
and  through  which  each  acted  upon  the  other.  Hence, 
he,  writing  in  a  devout  spirit,  thus  declared:  "Ma- 
terial nature  draws  her  forms  through  constant  magnet- 
ism from  above,  and  implores  for  them  the  favor  of 
heaven  ;  and  as  heaven,  in  like  manner,  draws  some- 
thing mvisible  below,  there  is  established  a  free  and 
mutual  intercourse,  and  the  whole  is  contai?ied  in  an  indi- 
vidual." This  magnetism  has  in  it  nothing  contrary  to 
common  sense,  except  in  the  minds  of  persons  who 
ridicule  everything  which  the\'  do  not  understand,  and 
affect  to  despise  what  they  have  not  the  facility  to  pos- 
sess. Such  learn  what  they  know,  as  the  brute  animals 
do,  only  adding  such  reasoning  and  combining  facul- 
ties as  they,  by  virtue  of  their  humanity,  chance  to  pos- 
sess. It  is  not  sound  logic  to  attribute  things  to  the 
imagination,  as  though  that  was  proof  that  they  were 
unsubstantial  nonentities.  The  imagination  of  a  moth- 
er will  rule  the  development  of  her  child,  as  we  have 
numerous  examples.      A  faculty  having  that  power,  is 


28  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

an  entity  of  the  most  energetic  character,  and  real  in 
the  most  emphatic  sense  of  the  word. 

Reasoning  from  this  beginning,  and  sustaining  his 
views  by  his  own  observations  and  those  of  others, 
Van  Helmont  declared  that  many  plants  used  as 
medicines,  acquire  an  extraordinar}-  power  from  the 
minc^  of  the  person  manipulating  them.  The  same 
thing  is  true  in  regard  to  minerals  ;  there  are  per- 
sons who  will  convert  a  common  needle  into  a  mag- 
netic one.  The  drugs  employed  by  physicians,  there- 
fore, in  many  instances,  have  their  principal  virtues 
due  to  the  imagination,  or  perhaps  the  faith,  of  the 
prescriber  or  patient ;  while,  in  other  cases,  the  drugs 
are  themselves  magnets  or  magnetized  substances. 
It  is  therefore  the  physician,  rather  than  the  medi- 
cine, that  should  be  looked  to  and  depended  upon 
for  the  healing  virtue.  The  medical  knowledge  which 
is  now  taught  is  insufficient  for  the  purposes  of 
the  healing  art.  It  consists  too  much  in  uncertain 
conjectures  and  pride  of  opinion;  while  it,  to  a  great 
degree,  overlooks  the  means  which  exist  on  every  hand, 
and  especially  the  instinct  common  alike  to  human  be- 
ings and  animals,  which  impels  them  to  seek  that 
which  is  needful  and  to  shun  the  unwholesome.     Our 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  29* 

doctrine,  on  the  contrary,  is  founded  on  a  genuine  and 
unquestionable  experience,  from  which,  as  from  an  in- 
exhaustible fountain,  there  flows  an  unceasing  current 
of  most  vital  truths. 

That  Medical  knowledge  is  taking  a  new  departure  is 
palpable  on  every  hand.  Even  those  physicians  who 
have  settled  down  into  the  chaotic  mire  of  atheism  and 
materialism  are  vociferous  in  their  proclamations  about 
the  advances  of  Science.  "  While  they  do  not  quite 
know  what  they  are  saying,  and  their  auditors  and  ad- 
mirers do  not  well  understand  the  sense  of  it,  the  fact 
is  patent,  nevertheless,  that  humanity  is  entering  upon 
a  new  era,  in  which  the  former  dogmatisms  and  half- 
knowing  will  pass  away.  We  have  no  occasion,  there- 
fore, for  unfriendly  dispute  with  anybody.  It  is  enough 
for  us  to  know  the  truth  and  walk  in  it,  without  wan- 
dering from  the  path  to  engage  in  controversy  with  the 
Savants  of  the  Twilight. 

The  art  of  curing  disease  by  the  agency  known  as 
?*Iagnetism  is  very  old — -perhaps  the  oldest  method  that 
was  ever  employed.  It  is  the  first  that  instinctively 
suggests  itself  to  the  friend  of  the  sufferer,  to  the  moth- 
er, the  wife,  or  the  sympathizing  neighbor.  It  was  em- 
ployed in  the  temples  of  /Esculapius,  both  in  Greece 


30  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

and  Asia  Minor,  long  before  the  Christian  era.  The 
fact  is  recorded  in  the  Papyri  of  Egypt,  which  have  been 
lately  deciphered  and  translated,  that  Ramases  XII. 
convened  his  College  of  Sacred  Scribes  and  Doctors  of 
Arcane  Science,  to  designate  for  him  "a  man  of  intel- 
ligent heart  and  skillful  with  his  fingers,''  to  be  sent  to 
Batana,  in  Asia,  as  a  physician  to  the  daughter  of  its  king. 
The  tragedian,  yEschylus,  has  also  recorded  a  like  mat- 
ter :  -'There,  in  Egypt,  he  with  gentle  hand,  soothed 
her  to  rest."  It  was  no  marvelous  occurrence  among 
the  learned  men  of  that  distant  age  :  for  the  magnetic 
manipulations  may  be  seen  there,  at  this  day,  delineated 
on  the  walls  of  the  ancient  temples.  To  cure  with  the 
touch  was  regarded  as  the  divine  gift  and  faculty;  and 
the  temples  had  their  hospital  chambers  for  the  service 
of  the  sick.  In  fact,  they  called  the  art  Sorcery,  when  it 
was  exercised  by  those  who  did  not  belong  to  the  con- 
secrated number  of  the  priest-physicians,  and  who  had 
not  taken  their  Hippocratic  oath.  It  has  since  become 
fashionable  to  denounce  everything  which  a  pagan  knew 
of  higher  science,  and  even  to  punish  those  who  were 
expert  in  it.  Owing  to  that  bigotry  the  employment  of 
magnetism  in  healing  was  proscribed  and  finally  for- 
gotten. 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  3  I 

It  is  necessary,  however,  to  understand  this  matter 
aright.  There  exists  a  great  faciiUy  of  blundering  that 
should  not  always  be  exercised,  and  we  do  not  wish  to 
encourage  it.  When  we  say  Magnelism,  we  do  not  mean 
??iussage,  rubbing,  kneading  or  shampooing.  The  artifi- 
ces of  Kinesipathy  or  Movement  Cure  are  all  excellent, 
and  a  world  of  good  has  been  done  by  their  means  ; 
but  they  are  hardly  to  be  regarded  as  magnetic  agen- 
cies. We  are  content  to  praise  them,  and  then  to  leave 
them,  as  a  thing  apart  from  our  subject. 

It  is  not  exactly  what  is  called  electricity.  We  must 
remember,  however,  that  the  electric  phenomena  which 
have  been  evolved  and  displayed,  upon  which  learned 
books  and  papers  have  been  written,  about  which  so 
many  interesting  facts  have  been  made  known,  and 
which  have  been  in  some  degree  utilized,  as  in  the  mat- 
ter of  telegraphs,  telephones,  illumination,  metal-plat- 
ing and  the  like,  are  but  matters  which  belong  to  the 
outer  portals  of  electrical  science.  The  real  verity  has 
not  yet  been  revealed  ;  much  that  has  been  inferred  and 
taught  is  apocryphal.  It  is  the  manifestation  of  a  force 
under  peculiar  conditions  ;  but  what  that  force  really  is 
has  not  been  ascertained.  It  comes  and  goes,  at  least  it 
seems  to  do  so  ;  it  is  as  a  spirit  going  whither  it  will, 


32  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

but  actually  little  known,  and  what  is  known  about  it, 
little  understood.  The  endeavor  has  been  made  to  solve 
certain  psychical  displays  by  imputing  them  to  it  ;  but 
the  explanation  is  no  more  than  an  unrevealed  apoca- 
lypse. This  much  has  been  observed,  that  where  a  cer- 
tain individual  had  exhibited  "physical  phenomena," 
among  which  were  the  ringing  of  bells,  the  moving  of 
bodies  and  the  throwing  of  them  about,  somnambul- 
ism, and  even  rappings,  the  whole  were  arrested  by 
simply  placing  the  person  on  an  insulated  bed,  the 
posts  resting  upon  glass. 

Individuals  with  whom  we  are  familiar  give  off 
sparks  now  and  then  from  the  head  and  other  parts  of 
the  person,  and  experience  a  sensation  in  the  arms  and 
hands  of  fullness  and  engorgement  of  the  nerves  and 
bowels,  which  may  be  removed  by  proper  manipula- 
tions. We  have  been  in  the  habit  of  regarding  such 
conditions  as  electrical.  It  is  not  our  purpose,  however, 
to  give  them  any  critical  defining  or  other  explanation ; 
but  only  mention  the  matter  as  having  been  mistakenly 
regarded  as  a  magnetic  phenomenon.  It  is  foreign  to 
our  purpose  to  treat  of  topics  extraneous  to  the  one 
under  consideration. 

That  one  person  can  intluence  another  in  the  way 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  '^'^ 

commonly  denominated  Diagneiic,  is  a  fact  now  very 
generally  known.       It  no  longer  compromises  a  per- 
son's reputation  for  good  sense  and  intelligence  to  ad- 
mit this.      Even  Dr.  Holmes,  who  has  a  place  in  the 
highest  scientific  circle  in   this  country,    has    actually 
ventured  to  hint  that  there  was   "a  special  magnetic 
power  to  which  certain  temperaments  were  impressible, 
though   there   was   no  explaining  it."'       A  wiser  and 
greater  than  Dr.   Holmes  has  both  explained  it,  and 
demonstrated    it   beyond    successful    disputing   of  the 
fact.      ''A  whole  multitude  sought  to  touch  him  ;  for 
there  went  virtue  out  of  him  and  healed  them  all.    *    * 
And  a  woman  having  an  issue  of  blood  twelve  years, 
who  had  spent  all  her  living  upon  physicians,  neither 
could  be  healed  of  any,  came  behind  him  and  touched 
the  border  of  his  garment :  and  immediately  her  issue 
of  blood  stanched.     And  Jesus  said  :    '  Who  touched 
me  V     When  all  denied,  Peter  said  :    '  Master,  the  mul- 
titude throng  thee  and   press   thee,  and  sayest  thou  : 
Who  touched  me  V     And  Jesus  said  :  'Somebody  hath 
touched  me  ;  for  I  perceive  that  virtue  is  gone  out  of 
me.'" 

This   "virtue,"'   or   dynamic   potency,    is   an    actual 
entity,  an  endowment  of  our  physical  life,  and  capable, 


54  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

when  rightly  employed,  of  assuaging  bodily  pain  and  re- 
moving disease.  It  is  not  a  boon  which  only  a  few  en- 
joy, but  a  general  property  of  living  beings.  Animals 
possess  it,  and  even  emit  it  under  certain  conditions. 
Hence,  it  is  properly  named  vital  or  anivial  rather  than 
human  magnetism.  There  are  auras  or  emanations 
from  brutes,  which  sustain  the  physical  energies,  nour- 
ish the  body  and  impart  health,  in  a  manner  similar 
and  in  strict  analogy  to  those  which  pass  unconsciously 
from  human  beings.  The  florid  countenance,  which  is 
a  characteristic  of  butchers,  is  due  to  this  cause.  They 
are  constandy  imbibing  the  effluvia  from  the  fresh 
blood  of  the  animals  which  they  slaughter.  These 
impart  to  them  a  subtile  nourishment  which  adds  im- 
mensely to  their  vigor  and  vivacity.  Others,  who  fol- 
low callings  that  assure  similar  advantages,  are  bene- 
fited accordingly.  The  dairymen  in  the  country,  the 
sheep-farmers,  and  the  grooms  engaged  about  stables, 
derive  likewise  a  wholesome  influence  from  the  animals 
about  which  they  are  employed.  This  mysterious  aura, 
which  every  living  animal  diffuses,  adds  to  the  vital 
energy  of  those  by  whom  it  is  absorbed. 

The  story  of  King  David  and  Abishag,  the  Shuna- 
mite  girl,  has  been  repeatedly  cited.      It  is  a  very  sim- 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  35 

pie,  and  in  no  sense  a  "strange  story."  We  find 
numerous  examples  of  the  like  all  around  us.  Par- 
ents and  elderly  persons  are  often  eager  to  make  bed- 
mates  of  children,  and  derive  material  benefit  by  so 
doing.  Invalids  often  artfully  secure  healthy  persons 
to  share  their  apartments,  because  of  the  peculiar  heal- 
ing virtue  which  is  received  from  them. 

The  celebrated  Madame  Hauffe,  the  "  Seeress  of 
Prevorst,"  subsisted  for  a  long  time  in  this  mysterious 
manner.  Her  life  hung  in  the  body  as  by  a  solitary 
thread.  She  was  chained  to  existence  as  by  a  single 
nerve.  She  depended  upon  the  organic  strength  of 
other  persons,  which  she  received  chiefly  through  the 
eyes  and  ends  of  her  fingers.  Others  felt  that  she  took 
strength  from  them.  Weakly  persons  felt  themselves 
weakened  when  near  her. 

Physicians  have  recuperated  patients  by  placing  upon 
their  bodies  the  skins,  intestines  or  other  parts  of  ani- 
mals that  had  been  just  slaughtered.  The  Roman 
Empress  Poppsea  used  to  bathe  in  asses'  milk,  freshly 
drawn  from  tiie  udders,  in  order  to  prolong  her  youth- 
fulness.  In  France,  under  the  old  regime,  when  neither 
kings  nor  nobles  respected  the  lives  or  personal  rights 
of  the  people,   it  was  affirmed  that  certain  lords,  ex- 


56  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

hausted  and  benumbed  from  exposure  or  debility, 
would  cause  the  bodies  of  peasants,  their  property,  to 
be  cut  open  while  living,  so  that  they  might  be 
warmed  and  invigorated  from  the  animal  heat.  A 
few  years  before  the  Revolution,  the  passions  of  the 
populace  were  exasperated  by  the  stor}^  which  had 
been  circulated,  that  the  royal  princes,  aftenvard  Louis 
XVI 1 1,  and  Charles  X.,  had  caused  young  children  to 
be  kidnapped  from  their  parents  for  the  purpose  of 
bathing  in  their  blood,  in  order  to  regain  the  vigor 
which  had  been  wasted  by  debauchery. 

It  was  an  old  notion  that  for  magnetism  to  be  suc- 
cessfully applied,  the  patient  must  be  put  to  sleep. 
This  is  a  great  mistake.  It  has  been  the  cause  of 
great  wasting  of  time  and  energy.  All  that  is  required 
is  to  be  brought  into  a  susceptible  condition.  The 
sleep  is  useful  therefore  only  in  so  far  as  this  is  oc- 
casioned. The  attention  of  the  physician  duly  fixed 
upon  the  patient,  and  particularly  upon  the  region  of 
the  body  which  requires  treatment,  is  the  principal 
thing  required.  The  patient  will  become  conscious  of 
of  a  particular  sensation,  better  known  than  described  : 
often  an  aura  or  cool  breeze  resembling  that  of  epi- 
lepsy, or  else  a  peculiar  sense  of  warmth,  or  a  prickling 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  37 

feeling,  or  perhaps  a  slight  numbness.  This  peculiar 
sensation  will  be  more  or  less  vivid  as  the  patient  is 
more  or  less  sensitive.  In  this  condition  the  will  of 
the  physician,  or  his  simplest  suggestion,  has  become  a 
spiritual  force,  acting  in  harmony  with  the  mind  and 
will  of  the  patient  to  the  end  of  influencing  beneficially 
the  unwholesome  states  of  the  body.  Every  disorder 
which  will  admit  of  a  cure  will  give  way  to  this  agency. 
There  is  not  the  reasonable  shadow  of  a  doubt  in  the 
matter.  The  simple  suggestion  of  the  magnetic  phy- 
sician, even  when  made  in  silence,  without  audible 
voice,  will  increase  or  diminish  the  action  of  the  heart, 
change  the  breathing,  affect  the  functional  movements 
of  the  stomach,  liver,  spleen,  kidneys,  and  intestinal 
canal.  The  blood  will  be  sensibly  modified  in  charac- 
ter, both  chemically  and  physiologically.  The  breath 
will  have  a  different  flavor  and  odor.  The  perspira- 
tory glands  will  experience  an  augmentation  of  their 
activity,  and  the  whole  skin  become  more  efficient. 
The  vital  action  of  any  organ  of  the  body  can  be  con- 
trolled ;  any  part  may  be  rendered  insensible  to  pain  ; 
the  nerves  quieted  ;  and,  in  brief,  the  specific  effects  of 
a  medicine  may  be  produced,  without  the  always  evil 
and  objectionable  morbid  accompaniments. 


^8  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

By  following  up  this  treatment,  a  complete  revolu- 
tion will  be  made  in  the  functional  action  of  the  body, 
and  the  organism  itself  will  undergo  a  beneficial  and 
permanent  change.  The  effects  which  are  produced 
by  the  magnetic  power  and  other  operations,  will  be 
carried  over  into  the  normal  state,  and  so  hold  good  as 
a  condition  of  regained  health. 

The  faculty  of  magnetising  exists  in  all  persons  ;  but 
all  do  not  posses  it  in  the  same  degree.  There  are 
many  reasons  for  this  diversity.  One  is  the  superiority 
of  individuals  over  others  in  moral  and  physical  quali- 
ties. In  the  former  respect,  there  is  required  confi- 
dence in  one's  own  powder  to  accomplish  the  desired 
result,  energy  of  will,  facility  in  concentrating  the  at- 
tention and  holding  it  thus  fixed,  kindness  of  feeling, 
patience,  calmness  of  mind,  and  entire  devotion  to  the 
matter  in  hand.  The  person  who  is  deficient  in  these 
particulars  will  hardly  become  a  good  magnetic  physi- 
cian. 

The  physical  qualifications  are  essential.  Good 
health  is  one  of  the  very  first  of  these.  There  is  be- 
sides a  peculiar  power,   different  from  that  which  lifts 

burdens  or  moves  heavy  objects.       Its  existence  and 

a 
the  degree  of  energy  possessed  in  this  respect,  are  only 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  39 

known  by  trial.  It  will  be  perceived  at  once  that  some 
persons  have  magnetic  power  superior  to  what  is 
possessed  by  others.  Indeed,  this  virtue  is  so  great  in 
some,  that  they  have  to  moderate  it.  The  direct  action 
ceases  when  the  physician  suspends  the  energy  of  his 
will  in  that  direction  ;  but  the  peculiar  communication 
once  established,  the  virtue  will  be  transferred  to  the 
patient  by  the  receptive  condition  which  has  been  in- 
duced. Confidence  in  the  efficaciousness  of  magnetism 
is  of  very  great  importance;  nevertheless  it  is  not  ab- 
solutely necessary. 

The  office  of  magnetic  treatment,  it  will  be  per- 
ceived, is  to  arouse  and  set  in  action  the  vital  force. 
It  can  do  no  more.  Persons  who  have  taken  much 
medicine  are  less  benefited  therefore  than  those  who 
have  been  less  unfortunate.  Nevertheless,  this  is  no 
reason  why  medical  treatment  and  magnetism  may  not 
be  employed  together.  The  administering  of  remedies 
is  greatly  favored  by  the  auxiliary  and  their  efficiency 
assured.  Magnetism  quiets  nervous  movements  and 
convulsions,  relieves  pain,  removes  coma  and  deter- 
mination to  the  head,  and  so  puts  the  patient  in  a  con- 
dition to  use  remedies  to  advantage,  which  perhaps  it 
had  been  impossible  before  to  administer 


40  NERVOUS    DISEASES, 

Magnetism  often  assuages  a  fever  and  moderates  the 
paroxysms  ;  it  puts  a  stop  to  delirium,  diminishes  the 
excitement  of  the  nervous  system,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  imparts  or  increases  strength.  It  quickens  the 
circulation  of  the  blood  and  augments  the  vital  activity. 
Nevertheless,  it  requires  great  care  and  discretion  in 
such  cases  ;  and  therefore  a  very'  judicious  physician  is 
required.  In  local  inflammation  it  is  a  sovereign  ap- 
plication. In  certain  inflammatory  disorders,  which 
are  active  in  the  more  important  of  the  viscera,  wonders 
have  been  performed.  It  has  cured  pleurisies,  when 
the  pain  was  excruciating  and  haemoptysis  had  begun. 
Inflammation  of  the  stomach  and  bowels,  cholera  mor- 
bus, and  other  ailments  closely  related  to  it,  disappear 
as  though  they  had  been  charmed  away.  There  are 
examples  of  the  cure  of  dropsy.  For  indurated  and 
enlarged  glands,  it  is  all-important.  Ulcers  and  scrof- 
ulous diseases,  which  have  exhausted  the  resources  of 
medicine,  have  been  healed  by  magnetism.  Epilepsy 
affords  the  most  convincing  proofs  of  the  power  of  this 
agent.  The  violence  and  frequency  of  the  attacks  have 
been  diminished,  and  many  patients  have  been  cured 
outright.  Paralysis  is  benefited  in  like  manner  :  the 
lame  walk,  the  blind  see,  and  the  benumbed  recover 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  41 

sensibility.  Rheumatism  is  one  of  the  diseases  most 
certain  to  be  relieved.  Pains  caused  by  a  stoppage  of 
perspiration  are  almost  always  cured.  Neuralgia  dis- 
appears as  by  magic.  We  may  go  through  the  cate- 
gory, and  will  be  able  to  give  similar  testimony.  JMag- 
netism  is  nature's  curative  ;  and,  in  one  form  or  an- 
other, will  remove  diseases  amenable  to  treatment,  and 
benefit  others  which  are  not. 


42  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 


MAGNETISM 

SCIENTIFICALLY  AND  SUCCESSFULLY  APPLIED. 


BY  B.   L.  CETLINSKI,  I\I.  D. 

That  there  is  a  healing  power  acting  independently 
of  the  materia  medica,  and  as  efficacious  in  its  sphere 
as  any  remedial  agent  known  to  science,  is  now  a  well- 
established  fact  with  all  those  who  are  willing  to  wit- 
ness its  operations  at  the  bedside  of  the  sick.  It  acts  in 
broad  daylight,  and  is  not  disturbed  in  the  least  by  the 
scrutinizing  eyes  of  the  scientific  physicians.  This  heal- 
ing power  is  generally  known  by  the  title  of  "zoo," 
or  animal  magnetism.  A  more  pompous  title  is  given 
to  it  by  some  fanciful  writers,  in  the  newly  coined  ex- 
pressions "psychic  force,"  "psychomany,"  "psychophy- 
sic,"'  in  connection  with  some  wild  theories  concerning 
the  nature  and  modus  operandi  o{  \\\?i\.  mysterious  power. 
The  naked  fact  is,  that  there  are  men  and  w^omen  who 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  43 

can  cure  diseases  by  simply  putting  themselves  in  con- 
tact with  the  sick  person,  and  expressing  their  will  to 
effect  a  cure.  The  expression  takes  various  shapes 
and  forms,  according  to  the  idiosyncratic  habit  of  the 
healer. 

This  marvelous  healing  power  has  been  known  for 
ages  ;  but,  while  by  the  ancients  it  was  considered  as  a 
special  favor  accorded  by  Deity  as  a  reward  of  great 
holiness,  or  as  a  sign  of  high  social  position  (as  kings 
and  priests),  it  is  demonstrated  in  our  day  as  being  a 
simple  attribute  of  some  peculiar  organizations,  entire- 
ly irrespective  of  holiness  or  social  position.  The  in- 
quiry into  the  nature  and  character  of  this  power,  and 
the  conditions  indispensable  to  its  manifestations,  is 
perfectly  legitimate  ;  but  the  various  theories  pro- 
pounded until  now  appear  to  be  a  wonderful  tissue  of 
hasty  conclusions,  drawn  partly  from  imperfect  experi- 
ments made  and  suggestions  thrown  out  by  various 
scientific  men  concerning  the  nature  and  modus  ope- 
randi of  the  medicinal  virtue  of  drugs  in  general,  and 
partly  from  inadequate  observations  made  of  phenom- 
ena of  different  kinds,  and  unequally  considered,  as 
the  late  Professor  Czermack  has  it.  It  is  this  unscien- 
tific process  of  combining  heterogeneous  elements  into 


44  NERVOUS   DISEASES. 

a  theorem  that  has  opened  wide  fields  to  charlatanism, 
which  fills  the  papers  with  certificates  testifying  to 
ephemeral  cures  of  imaginary  complaints,  to  the  de- 
light of  the  credulous.  I  do  not  intend  to  enter  now 
into  a  proper  analysis  of  the  various  phenomena  exhib- 
ited by  this  power,  and  suggestions  they  may  off"er  for 
a  plausible  theor}-;  but  as  I  had  of  late  the  opportunity 
to  experience  the  effect  of  this  mysterious  power  upon 
myself,  produced  by  one  of  our  most  genuine  prac- 
titioners, I  cannot  resist  the  impulse  to  submit  a  few 
thoughts  concerning  the  main  characteristic  feature  of 
this  wonderful  gift,  with  a  few  hints  elucidating  the 
floating  schemes  for  its  explanation. 

(i.)  One  of  Zoroaster's  doctrines  with  regard  to  med- 
icine is,  that  as  a  sequel  of  the  alliance  of  Ormazd,  or 
supreme  being,  with  the  Ferver,  or  spirit  of  everything, 
every  fractional  part  of  a  medicinal  substance  contains 
the  whole  of  the  medicine  or  its  spirit. 

(2.)  Paracelsus,  but  especially  Hahnemann,  by  his 
strictly  scientifically-conducted  experiments,  with  re- 
gard to  ascertaining  the  physiological  relation  which 
must  exist  between  a  remedial  agent  and  the  human 
organism,  was  led  step  by  step  to  the  conclusion  that 
the  power  of  rnedicine  is  a  pure  dynamical  or  a  kind 


NERVOUS    DISKASES.  45. 

of  spiritual  power,  and  that  said  power  is  develop- 
ed in  an  inverse  ratio  of  the  complexity  of  the  bulk,  so 
that  the  medicinal  virtue  of  a  drug  acts  freer  and  more 
powerfully  through  the  vehicle  of  the  smallest  fractional 
part  of  the  drug.  This  is,  as  Dr.  Veit  justly  remarked, 
{Hygir.  V.  443)  Zoroaster  scientifically  applied. 

(3.)  But  G.  H.  Von  Schubert,  in  his  history  of  the 
soul,  stardng  with  the  belief  that  an  unseen  world  of 
forces  forms  the  complement  of  the  visible  world, 
and  that  the  first  manifest  themselves  when  the  visible 
forces  fail  to  do  so,  by  reason  of  exhausdon  or  lack  of 
power,  advances  the  bold  assertion  with  regard  to  med- 
icine, that  by  the  homoeopathic  attenuation  the  hidden 
soul  of  the  medicine  is  made  to  appear,  wdiich  fact,  in 
dead  matter,  is  equal  to  die  phenomena  of  animal  mag- 
netism. Von  Schubert  finally  asserts  that  the  homoeo- 
pathist  acts  by  means  of  a  psychical  agent  following  the 
psychical  forces  of  the  body,  and  through  them  on  the 
gross  materiality  of  the  organism, 

(4.)  Dr.  S.  Lutze,  a  devoted  disciple  of  Hahnemann, 
a  man  who  evidendy  possessed  the  gift  of  healing  in  a 
very  high  degree,  catching  the  idea,  proclaimed  openly 
a  monopoly  for  his  own  homoeopathic  preparations  of 
drugs,  on  the  ground  that  he  communicates  his  extra- 


46  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

ordinary  healing  or  magnetic  power  to  his  drugs  dur- 
ing the  process  of  attenuation,  and  there  were  thou- 
ands  of  patients  under  his  treatment  who  swore  by  him 
and  his  magnetic-force-globules. 

(5.)  This  is  not  enough  ;  some  of  the  most  learned 
physicians  who  adopted  Hahnemann's  therapeutics, 
(Dr.  Rumel  and  Surgeon  Tietz)  starting  again  from  a 
pure  scientific  impulse,  arrived  by  experiments  and 
speculations,  aided  by  microscopy,  at  the  conclusion 
that  the  medicinal  virtue  of  drugs  was  either  identical 
with  or  analogous  to  electricity  and  magnetism,  and 
follow  consequently  the  same  law  of  expansion  centri- 
fugally  as  in  electricity. 

(6.)  There  remains  but  one  step  in  advance  to  make, 
and  we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  a  medicinal  virtue 
can  be  transferred  from  a  medicinal  to  a  non-medicinal 
substance,  and  this  step  is  really  taken  by  the  erudite 
Dr.  Rau  from  Giessen  and  others. 

(7.)  But  to  complete  the  picture,  I  must  not  forget 
an  anonymous  writer  in  the  Alg.  H.  Zeitg.  27,  265,  who 
advances  his  opinion,  supported  by  microscopical  ex- 
periments, that  a  violent  disintegration  of  a  medicinal 
substance  produces  a  lively  molecular  movement  which 
he  calls  "  vivification  ''  of  the  drug,  and  believes  that  the 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  47 

secret  of  the  homoeopathic  attenuation  consists  in  this, 
that  Ufe  is  made  to  act  upon  life.  This  again  is  a  revival 
of  an  old  maxim  of  the  Essaian  concerning  the  medici- 
nal virtue  of  fresh  animal  blood,  that  "■  li/e  gives  li/e." 

Here,  I  think,  we  have  all  the  elements  of  that  chaos 
which  surrounds  that  marvelous  remedial  agency  not 
known  to  the  materia  medica.  It  is  certainly  premature, 
in  the  present  state  of  our  physiological  and  psycholog- 
ical knowledge,  to  undertake  any  useful  speculation 
concerning  the  nature  and  modus  operandi  of  the  heal- 
ing power,  in  question.  I  have  not  seen,  in  the  meth- 
ods employed  in  magnetic  treatment,  any  thing  corres- 
ponding with  the  use  of  electro-magnetism  or  faradisa- 
tion. I  will  now  give  a  short  account  of  my  own  experi- 
ence. In  the  early  Winter  of  1874,  w^iile  I  was  attending 
to  some  business  in  New  York  City,  I  suddenly  felt  a 
shooting,  itching  pain,  starting  somewhere  in  the  supra- 
scapular nerve,  extending  rapidly  to  all  the  connected 
muscles  covering  the  shoulder-blade  anteriorly  and 
posteriorly,  rendering  me  unable  to  proceed  in  my 
walks,  and  soon  the  pectoris-major  became  involved. 
Having  no  medicine  about  me,  and  being  obliged  to 
remain  in  the  city  the  whole  day  and  be  on  the  move, 
I  visited  Doctor  James  Edwin  Briggs,  in  the  hope  of 


48  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

obtaining  prompt  relief.*  Finding  him  in  his  ofifice,  I 
told  him,  moaningly,  what  had  happened  to  me,  not 
giving  him  my  diagnosis,  but  called  my  sufTering  rheu- 
matism, from  cold,  pain  in  arms  and  back,  &c.  I 
found  him  a  gentleman  of  much  suavity,  and  of  a  very 
sympathetic  nature.      He  disclaims  any  pretensions  to 

*Perhaps  a  word  will  be  permitted,  by  way  of  explanation, 
of  Dr.  Cetlinski's  allusions,  and  will  not  be  regarded  as  egotistical 
or  unprofessional.  Dr.  Briggs  was  educated  as  a  pharmacist, 
but  studied  medicine  after  coming  to  manhood.  He  passed 
through  the  regular  course' of  medical  study  like  other  physi- 
cians, besides  a  thorough  training  in  boyhood  and  early  man- 
hood in  pharmacy  and  pharmaceutical  chemistry.  The  faculty 
of  applying  animal  magnetism  as  an  auxiliary  to  the  healing  art 
was  inherited  from  his  mother.  His  brothers  and  sisters  exhi- 
bit the  like  power  ;  but  with  this  very  natural  and  very  unfortu- 
nate accompaniment,  that  they  experience  ill  effects  in  conse- 
quence of  exercising  it,  which  Dr.  Briggs  does  not.  It  is  not 
every  person  who  can  apply  magnetism  with  benefit  to  others, 
that  is  able  to  escape  this  penalty.  It  seems  as  though  to  "lay 
bands  unwisely  upon  another,"  would  render  the  individual 
"a  partaker  of  others'  sins"  and  infirmities,  by  some  occult 
law.  Having  taken  a  full  course  of  instruction  in  medicine, 
as  just  stated,  Dr.  Briggs  opened  an  ofifice  in  Troy,  N.  Y.,  in  1865, 
employing  magnetism,  sometimes  alone,  and  at  other  times 
combining  it  with  regular  medical  treatment.  He  has  pur- 
sued these  methods  till  the  present  time,  and  with  gratifying 
success.  Since  1872  he  has  been  a  resident  practitioner  in  the 
City  of  New  York. 


NERVOUS    DISEASES.  49 

working  miracles,  but  believes  he  has  the  vocation  of 
healing  the  sick,  and  feels  always  happy  in  relieving  the 
sufferings  of  his  fellow-beings.  His  previous  occupa- 
tion has  been  that  of  a  druggist,  chemist,  and  then  a 
practitioner. 

Although  my  slight  personal  acquaintance  with  him 
impressed  me  much  in  his  favor,  I  am  not  the  one  to 
be  easily  psychologized  by  any  one,  and  less  so  by  him, 
v/ho  is  inferior  to  me  in  physical  strength,  stature  and 
self-will. 

Briefly  :  I  stepped  into  his  sanctum,  sat  down,  and 
allowed  him  to  operate  on  me,  watching  closely  his 
manipulations.  I  was  much  surprised  to  see  that  the 
first  contact  of  his  hand  with  my  body  was  at  the  very 
spot  where  the  pain  started  from,  although  I  did  not 
give  him  any  details  of  my  sensations,  nor  did  I  tell 
him  any  topical  indications.  He  put  his  hand  imme- 
diately on  the  right  spot,  pressing  gently  on  it  for  a 
while,  then  manipulating  upon  the  whole  area  involved 
in  such  a  manner  as  if  his  hands  were  directed  by  a 
knowledge  of  the  most  interior  workings  in  the  painful 
muscles.  Very  soon  I  felt  a  glow  in  the  brachial  plexus, 
and  a  kind  of  commotion  therein,  which  alarmed  me 
at  first ;  but  I  soon  became  aware  that  the  motion  took 


so  NERVOUS    DISEASES. 

a  well-defined  direction,  and  in  a  few  minutes  more  I 
felt  an  affluence  of  fresh  blood  in  the  capillaries  and  in 
the  painful  region,  and  felt  immediately  refreshed  all 
over,  as  if  after  a  genuine  Russian  bath  in  my  own 
country. 

Thinking  I  was  through,  I  was  about  to  get  up, 
when  the  doctor  commanded  me  to  rest,  for  he  had 
some  more  work  to  perform.  Immediately  he  put  his 
hand  on  the  region  at  my  left  kidney,  saying,  "You 
need  here  some  fresh  vitality  !"  This  surprised  me  in 
the  utmost,  as,  in  fact,  there  is  a  ver}'  weak  spot  in  my 
organism,  for  which  I  treat  myself  occasionally,  but 
never  thought  of  it  at  that  time.  A  few  manipulations 
of  his  upon  the  said  region  made  me  conscious  of  an 
increase  of  tenacity  in  that  organ,  and  I  was  soon  al- 
lowed to  rise.  Resting  a  little  while,  chatting  and  re- 
cruiting, I  left  the  Doctor's  office,  completely  restored 
to  my  normal  condition,  went  through  my  day's  work 
in  the  city,  and  have  had  no  occasion  smce  to  resort  to 
my  medicine  case  for  myself  Now  what  was  it  in  Dr. 
Briggs"  operations,  in  my  own  case,  that  relieved  me, 
in  half  an  hour,  of  a  severe  acute  attack,  as  described 
above  ?  There  was  not  a  shadow  of  resemblance  in  his 
manipulation  to  the  operations  of  Faradization  or  elec- 


NERVOUS     DISEASES.  5 1 

tricity  according  to  science.  Then,  again,  does  electrici- 
ty, magnetism — even  zoo-magnetism — make  a  diagno- 
sis based  on  the  knowledge  of  morbid  physiology .''  Is 
it  psychic  force — if  it  is  anything  of  the  nature  oi force — 
scientifically  understood  }  does  it  reason,  make  diagno- 
sis .-^  All  we  know  is  that  Dr.  Briggs  can  cure  diseases 
when  he  wills  to  do  it.  It  is  a  God-given  gift,  of  which 
he  makes  a  noble  use.  God  bless  him  !  I  do  not  think 
to  act  contrary  to  our  medical  code  of  ethics,  if  I  say  to 
all  who  are  suffering  and  do  not  find  relief  in  the 
knowledge  of  their  doctor,  call  on  Dr.  Briggs,  and  get 
cured.  This  gift  seems  to  be  able  to  act  not  only  inde- 
pendently of  the  ?}iakna  medica,  but  in  many  cases, 
also,  independentl}-  of  surgery.  I  mean  surgery  as  used 
by  non-Hahnemannian  practitioners,  in  and  out  of 
season. 


52  NERVOUS     DISEASES. 


MAGNETISM. 


BY  GILES  B.   STEBBINS,  A.   M. 


The  external  acts  of  man,  his  power  to  strike  hard, 
to  run  or  row,  or  chop  wood,  to  handle  tools,  etc., 
are  tolerably  well  understood,  for  they  are  tangible  to 
the  daily  observation  of  the  senses.  His  mental  pow- 
ers are  somewhat  well  known  also  from  the  books  he 
writes  and  the  inventions  he  has  devised,  but  there  are 
subtile  and  interior  powers  of  his  of  which  little  indeed 
is  known  ;  and  such  knowledge,  deepest  and  highest 
and  most  far  reaching,  would  seem  to  come  last  in  the 
order  of  human  development. 

True  we  have  had  even  from  the  remote  past  of  India 
and  the  European  Middle  Ages  some  gleams  of  light, 
— occult  research,  intuitive  statement  and  wonderful 
incident,  yet  little  that  is  systematic  or  satisfactory.    We 


NERVOUS     DISEASES. 


53 


are  coming  to  the  verge  of  a  new  era,  and  so  are  learn- 
ing more  in  regard  to  the  real  constitution  of  man. 
Magnetism,  the  existence  of  a  subtile  and  emanating 
aura,  the  invisible  influence  that  reaches  out,  whether 
we  will  or  no,  and  that  goes  with  new  force  and  swift 
directness,  if  we  will  and  direct  it,  is  a  new  study  com- 
paratively, new,  that  is,  so  far  as  any  plan  or  system  is 
concerned,  any  effort  to  look  at  it  as  rational,  to  utilize 
it  for  human  good. 

Magnetism  has  also  opened  the  way  as  a  healing 
agency  ;  for  the  sick  seek  relief  first,  and  the  touch 
that  soothes  and  heals  is  welcomed,  and  the  health 
which  it  brings  helps  to  drive  all  unhealthful  influ- 
ences away. 

Almost  seventy  years  ago,  M.  Deleuze,  an  eminent 
French  scientist,  wrote  a  Critical  History  of  MagJieiism^ 
the  result  of  twenty-nine  years  of  careful  research  car- 
ried on  with  the  fidelity  and  care  that  marked  all  the 
acts  of  one  of  the  best  of  men.  His  biographer  tells  us 
how  he  shows  that  ' '  Its  effects  have  been  attested  by 
thousands  of  witnesses"  of  all  grades  "who  have  not 
been  afraid  to  brave  ridicule  in  obeying  conscience  and 
doing  duty  to  humanity  ,  .  while  among  its  ad- 
versaries not  a  man  can  be  found  who  has  examined 


54 


NERVOUS     DISEASES. 


the  subject  in  the  only  proper  way,  by  experimenting 
for  himself  with  the  most  scrupulous  attention,  and  in 
exact  accordance  with  the  prescribed  directions."' 

He  concludes  after  his  thirty  years'  study  :  "  Mag- 
netism presents  phenomena  which  may  enlighten  us 
upon  our  physical  organizations,  and  upon  the  facul- 
ties of  our  soul.  It  is  an  action  in  human  beings  re- 
sembling attraction  in  inanimate  matter.  This  action 
hath  its  laws.  Let  physicians,  physiologists  and  meta- 
physicians unite  to  study  them,  and  they  will  soon 
make  a  science  whose  application  will  add  much  to  the 
various  branches  of  knowledge  which  are  destined  to 
strengthen  the  ties  that  bind  men  together,  and  dimin- 
ish the  ills  to  which  they  are  exposed."  At  a  later 
date  (1826)  he  wrt)te  "Practical  Instruction  in  Animal 
Magnetism,"  a  work  remarkably  clear  and  simple  in 
style,  yet  wisely  practical.  A  few  extracts  give  idea  of 
its  utility. 

"When  the  magnetizer  acts  upon  the  patient,  they 
are  said  to  be  in  coinmiinication  {rapport.)  That  is  to 
say,  we  mean  by  the  word  communication,  a  peculiar  and 
induced  condition,  which  causes  the  magnetizer  to  ex- 
ert an  influence  on  the  patient,  there  being  between 
them  a  communication  of  the  vital  principle. 


NERVOUS     DISEASES.  5.5 

"The  perfectness  and  benefit  of  this  depends  upon 
the  moral  and  physical  condition  of  the  persons.  Ex- 
perienced magnetizers  know  in  themselves  when  this 
takes  place.  .  .  The  fingers  ought  to  be  a  little 
separated,  and  slightly  bent,  so  that  their  ends  be  di- 
rected toward  the  person  magnetized.  .  .  Where 
any  one  has  a  local  pain  it  is  natural  to  carry  the  mag- 
netic action  to  the  suffering  part.  It  is  not  by  passing 
the  hands  over  the  arms  that  we  undertake  to  cure 
the  sciatica  ;  or  by  the  hands  on  the  stomach  that  we 
can  ease  a  pa'n  on  the  knee.  The  magnetic  fluid, 
when  motion  is  given  it,  draws  along  with  it  the  blood, 
the  humors  and  the  cause  of  the  complaint.  If  one 
has  a  pain  in  the  shoulder,  and  the  magnetizer  makes 
passes  from  the  shoulder  to  the  end  of  the  fingers,  the 
pain  will  descend  with  the  hand  ;  it  stops  sometimes 
at  the  elbow,  or  at  the  wrist,  and  goes  off  by  the  hands, 
in  which  a  slight  perspiration  is  perceived  ;  before  it  is 
wholly  dissipated,  a  pain  is  sometimes  felt  in  the  lower 
part  of  the  bowels.  It  seems  to  chase  away  and  bear 
off  with  it  whatever  disturbs  the  equilibrium,  and  its 
action  ceases  when  the  equilibrium  is  restored. 

"The  following  rule,  with  some  exceptions,  seems 
to  be  established  : 


56  NERVOUS     DISEASES. 

' '  Accumulate  and  concentrate  the  magnetic  fluid  on 
the  suffering  point ;  then  draw  off  the  pain  toward  the 
extremities.  For  example  :  for  a  pain  in  the  shoulder, 
hold  your  hand  on  it  some  minutes  ;  then  descend, 
and  having  quitted  the  ends  of  the  fingers,  re-com- 
mence patiently  the  same  process." 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  directions  and  sug- 
gestions of  this  eminent  and  careful  man.  Leaving 
the  great  Frenchman,  we  give  an  extract  from  a  dis- 
tinguished author  {Harbhiger  0/ Health,  pp.  87).  Mr. 
A.  J.  Davis  says  : 

"There  is  a  very  common  superstition  among  pop- 
ular medical  men,  of  the  aniedeluvian  school,  that  the 
phenomena  of  magnetism  (or  mesmerism)  are  the  con- 
comitants of  hysterical  states  of  the  nervous  system. 
But  there  is,  here  and  there,  a  broad-hearted  and 
knowledge-loving  physician,  who  is  capable  of  put- 
ting a  rational  question  with  an  honest  incredulity  A 
loss  of  vital  action  is  nothing  but  a  loss  o^  balance  be- 
tween inherent  forces,  which  are  positive  and  negative, 
or  magnetic  and  electrical.  Yet  we  do  not  hold  that 
currents  generated  by  the  metallic  or  mineral  battery 
can  ever  be  made  to  act  as  a  substitute,  because  the 
principles  of  life  are  as  much  more  fine  than  atmos- 


NERVOUS     DISEASES.  57 

pheric  electricity  as  the  latter  is  more  delicate  than  the 
water  of  our  lakes." 

Therefore  we  recommend  the  judicious  use  of  hu- 
man magnetism  in  nearly  all  cases  of  disease.  As  the 
eminent  M.  De  Puysegur  said  :  "You  must  have  an 
active  will  to  do  good,  a  firm  faith  in  your  power,  and 
an  active  confidence  in  employing  it."  JMagnetism  is  a 
useful,  an  invigorating,  and  a  sublime  agent  for  energy 
and  health.  It  is  the  all  pervading  j>'/;z/»t7/-^  which  con- 
nects us  with  the  absolute  condition  and  sufferings  of 
our  fellow  men.  Owing  to  the  delicacy  and  sublime 
uses  of  this  power  it  is  susceptible  of  remarkable  mi's- 
applications,  much  to  the  annoyance,  perhaps  injury, 
of  both  operator  and  subject. 

These  practical  directions  and  excellent  suggestions 
may  help  to  awaken  thought  on  an  important  subject. 

Magnetism  is  to  be  one  of  the  great  remedial  powers 
and  agencies.     Medical  men  must  adopt  it,  and  will. 


I  JSTDEX. 


Animal  Magnetism. 

Views  of  Brown-Sequard 23 

"      Dr.  Cetlinski 42 

"      Dr.  Oliver  Wendell  Holmes 33 

Auras  of  Animals 34 

Brandis,  Sir  J.  D.,  on  Efficacy  of  Magnetism 23 

Biographical  Sketch 48 

Briggs,  James  E.,  on  Magnetic  Therapeutics 25 

Successful  Treatment  of  a  Patient 47 

Brown-Sequard  on  Animal  Magnetism  and  Painless  SurgerV...  23 

Carpenter,  Dr.  William  B.,  his  Praise  of   Magnetism 22 

Cetlinski,  Dr.  B.  L.,  on  Magnetism.     Scientifically  and 
Successfully. 

Applied 42 

Treated  by  Dr.   Briggs 47 

Cures  by  Magnetism 22 

Davis,  A.  J.,  Explication  of  Vital  Magnetism 56 

Deleuze,  M.,  Critical  History  of  Magnetism 53 

Diseases,  to  be  Treated  with  Advantage 22-40 

Egypt,  Magnetism  in 30 

Electricity 31 

Elliottson,  Dr.  John,  on  Cukes  isy  Magnet. sm  22 


INDEX.  59 

Emotions,  Influence  in  Disease i8 

Epilepsy 12 

Etiology  of  Nervous   Diseases 14 

Goethe,  his  Generalization  of  Organic  Life 7 

Hamilton,  Sir  William,  on  Mind 7 

Hammond,  Dr.  W.  A.,  Hypothesis  of  Mind 5 

Hauffe,  Mme.,  Seeress  of  Prevorst 35 

Holmes,  Dr.  Oliver  Wendell,  on  Magnetic  Power 33 

Uncertainty  of  Remedies 26 

Hysteria 9 

Imagination,  Influence  of 27 

Insanity 9 

LuTZE,  on  Magnetic  Fokce-Globules 46 

Magnetic  Therapeutics 25 

Magnetism  Explained 25 

Hypothesis  of  Van   Hclmont 26 

Rules  for  Applying 55 

Successful  in  Diseases 22-40 

Theory  of  Dr.  Briggs 25 

"            Deleuze 53 

"            Giles  B.  Stebbins 52 

"           J.  J.  G.  Wilkinson 22 

Massage  not  Magnetism 31 

Nervous  Diseases.     By  J.  E.  Briggs,  M.   D 3 

Etiology  of 14 

Neurasthenia 14 

New  Departure  in  Medical  Science 29 

Paracelsus  on  Medicinal  Virtue 44 

Priests  the  Ancient  Magnetisers 43 

Psychical  Agents 45 

PuvsEGUR  ON  Mode  of  Applying  Magnetism 57 


6b 


INDEX. 


Remedies  Uncertain 26 

Rules  for  Applying  Magnetism 55 

Seeress  of  Prevorst  35 


Sexual  System. 


19 


Stebbins,  G.  B.,  on  Magnetism 52 

Sympathetic  Nervous  System 15 

Uncertainty  of  Remedies 26 

Van  Helmont,  his  Hypothesis 26 

Von  Schubert  on  Psychical  Agents .^5 

Wilkinson,  Dr.  J.  J.  Garth,  on  Magnetism 22 

Zoroaster  on  Medicine 44 


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